


Getting Settled In

by TheBigLoserQueen



Series: Mythical AU [39]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Alternate Universe - Human, Cultural Differences, Het, Human, Interspecies, Interspecies Relationship(s), Marriage Proposal, Monsters, Mythical Beings & Creatures, One-Sided Attraction, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-17
Updated: 2017-11-17
Packaged: 2019-02-03 15:58:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12751521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBigLoserQueen/pseuds/TheBigLoserQueen
Summary: Tailgate isn't sure how to feel in her new home.





	Getting Settled In

Tailgate wasn’t sure what was really going on. It had all been a blur and she was still trying to make heads and tails of what had happened. One moment, she had been at the Tribute Festival with her father. The next… She was in some huge manor in a room so lavish she had thought she had been dropped into one of her favorite book series.

Cyclonus wasn’t there. He told her he had other business to attend to, but he would return shortly. What that other business was, she wasn’t even sure she wanted to know. She couldn’t even bring herself to ask… Primus, she hadn’t said a word since Cyclonus had took as a tribute, telling her father that he wanted to marry her.

She was still trying to wrap her head around that. The royal hunter, a demon, wanted to marry her out of all the available partners in the world. It didn’t make any sense. She did not have her father’s talent. She wasn’t exactly the most beautiful woman out there. Her family didn’t have that much money. Her cooking was decent, but nothing spectacular. She was just a human too.

There wasn’t a single reason she could think of as to why Cyclonus would want to marry her. She didn’t know how it worked for demons, but… marriage was a commitment. A promise for two people to be together until death, for better or for worse… A promise to be a family, start a family, everything that her parents had been…

She hugged herself tightly, looking around the luxurious room. He wanted her as a wife… and he probably wanted her to mother his child. Or children, she had no idea. Primus, yes, she had a crush on the demon, but that didn’t mean she had expected or even wanted something like this to happen!

Taking a deep breath, she stood up and walked over to the door. When she turned it, she was relieved to see that it hadn’t been locked. So that could have meant that she wasn’t going to be kept as a prisoner… She remembered when the king had married Queen Eclipse and had locked her up in a tower for a while. Maybe Cyclonus wouldn’t do that to her.

She couldn’t hear anyone coming down the halls. She briefly recalled seeing a few servants when Cyclonus had brought her here… Or at least she thought she did. But surely there had to be servants here. It was a big manor; there was no way that Cyclonus did all of the cooking and cleaning himself, not with the busy schedule she knew he had.

Seeing no one around, Tailgate tiptoed out of the room and slowly walked down the hall. So… this was where Cyclonus lived. It was very… dark, not many windows or natural light shining in. Plenty of dim lights inside though. And the walls were mainly dark colors, filled with detailed and somewhat haunting paintings. There were few decorations, like tables and vase and such. At least down this hall.

She came down a large stairwell, which pooled down into what she assumed was the front entrance. There, she saw two maids, who had paused in their walk between rooms to look up at her. One older, the other younger… And both ghost-like creatures. She honestly wasn’t sure, since she had never seen such creatures in her village before.

“Miss Tailgate.”

She stiffened as the older one locked eyes with her.

“Did you need something?”

Tailgate hesitated. Her voice was monotone, and her expression was blank. The other maid looked at her with more curiosity. She wondered if she wasn’t welcomed since she was a human, but she dared not try to question it. No one seemed inclined to attack her or force her back into the room she had been in before, so she seemed safe. For now anyway.

“Where… Where is Sir-Lord Cyclonus?”

"The master is meeting with General Bombrush in the parlor, Miss Tailgate," the younger ghost said, smiling softly.

Her eyes widened. General Bombrush? As if, the general to King Megatron's armed forces and close friend? She knew of Cyclonus's position, but... To be in the same house as the general of the royal army just didn't compute.

The elder ghost hissed at the younger one, causing both her and Tailgate to flinch back.

"Please return to your room, Miss Tailgate," the elder ghost said as she hovered closer. "The master wanted you to rest after the long journey."

Tailgate couldn't do anything as the ghost turned her back the way she came. The two servants quickly escorted her back to the room, Tailgate being made to sit down on the bed again. She just watched the older ghost tidy up the room a little while the younger one seemed to have disappeared. Before she could even ask, she returned with a silver tray with tea, a small bowl of fruits, and biscuits.

"Please, make yourself comfortable," the elder insisted. "Lord Cyclonus will return soon."

"Especially considering how much the General gets on his nerves," the younger giggled, setting the tray on an end table.

Tailgate wasn't sure what to make of the young ghost's quip, given how the older ghost hissed at her. But there was nothing she could really see as the two servants disappeared and closed the door behind them.

Primus... Cyclonus was meeting with General Bombrush. He had never come to her village, but she knew of people who had met him. How he was a man of the people, a great general, and a bit of a Casanova. Almost the exact opposite of how Cyclonus was. A part of her was curious as to how those two would interact, considering how different they were.

But regardless, the idea of being trapped in this room, even with the maids' tea and food, wasn't really something Tailgate was keen on. She wasn’t really tired or hungry. Maybe they wouldn't mind if she looked through the halls again... So long as she doesn't get caught again.

Moving out of the room again, she headed in the opposite direction from before. Instead of another staircase, she came across more of the dark decorum. Large statues and drapes decorated the halls, but had little else. Cyclonus must have not have been the type to over complicate his decorations, even though they could use a little more life.

Turning a corner, Tailgate paused as a large set of doors stood before her. Curiosity got the better of her, quietly moving to press an ear to the door. The door must have been incredibly thick because she didn't hear anyone inside. Still... Perhaps it was a library. The entrance reminded her of the descriptions about libraries in her novels. She didn't want to bother anyone with her exploring, but the idea of books sounded like a good way of using time.

She reached down to turn the knob, glad to find it unlocked. Slowly, she turned the knob and step inside…

And immediately regretted it when she saw both Lord Cyclonus and General Bombrush sitting at a table, their heads turning to look at her. She just stood there, frozen and frightened and not knowing what to do. They both just stared at her with wide eyes. Neither of them looked angry or annoyed, but that didn’t mean Tailgate felt any better about interrupting their conversation.

“S-Sorry-!” she managed to choke out, flinching back when she saw Bombrush raise an eyebrow. “I-I-I didn’t-!”

“Well, well…” Bombrush leaned back in his seat, holding his arms across his chest. “I’ve never seen you before.”

Cyclonus turned to glare the ogre. “General-”

Bombrush held up a hand before using that same one to gesture for the woman to come in. Afraid of what would happen if she refused, Tailgate swallowed her fear and slowly inched her way inside. She kept her head down, hugging herself tightly as she made her way over to him.

“Now… Who might you be?”

“M-My name is T-Tailgate, General Bombrush.”

He eyed her up and down for a few moments. Judging by her clothes, she definitely wasn’t a servant. Cyclonus was a stickler for uniforms, so all of the servants had a uniform. And he didn’t have any humans within his staff. He knew the demon believed humans were too weak to help around his home and mainly thought they were a nuisance.

Which made him wonder why this cute human was here in the first place. Not a servant, human, young and pretty…

He paused. Yesterday, he had been with Megatron when Cyclonus approached them. He had asked the king if he would be allowed a little time off. When Megatron inquired about this issue, Bombrush clearly remembered him mentioning something about helping his new “fiancée” adjust. And since he had not seen anyone else here…

His eyes widened before turning to Cyclonus. “You’re marrying her? A human?”

Tailgate flinched back while Cyclonus’s glare darkened.

Bombrush quickly turned back to Tailgate, holding up a hand. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that, my dear. I have nothing against humans, it’s just…” He spared another look at Cyclonus before chuckling. “Cyclonus never seemed interested in your species as a whole.”

“They are completely different matters,” Cyclonus growled.

But Bombrush just shook his head, chuckling. Honestly, he was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that Cyclonus not only had a fiancee, but she was human too. No, he and Cyclonus weren't close; in fact, he knew Cyclonus couldn't stand him half the time. Still, how did he keep this woman a secret for so long? Even if Bombrush didn't find out right away, he would have known if Cyclonus had a lover. He had eyes and ears everywhere, even more than before thanks to his lovely wife.

"So, Miss Tailgate... How did you two meet?"

Tailgate didn't know what to do. Cyclonus had told everyone she was his fiancee? How long had he been planning this?! Or did he have some sort of story he had told everyone and that was why he wanted her to wait in the room? So he could explain this all to her?

It might have been something like how it was in her books. Maybe he just told everyone he had a fiancee because everyone was pressuring him to get married. Then people started asking him if they could meet her. With nowhere else to go, he picked her because she was convenient. After all, she was just a human and he had chosen her as tribute during the Festival. It wasn't like she was in a position to refuse him.

"She is the daughter of the weaponsmith I frequent," he said. "She worked at the front of his store and managed the business end of everything."

"Ah. Love at first sight?"

Tailgate blushed while Cyclonus scowled.

"How long have you two been together?"

"We've known each other for a few years now," Cyclonus said, growing more and more annoyed. He hated how Bombrush would pry into his personal life. As if he wanted to give the ogre any leverage he could use against him. "Only today I told her father I would marry her."

Bombrush raised an eyebrow. "During the Tribute Festival? Couldn't you have picked a better time?"

"I had chosen her as tribute and he demanded why. So I told him it was because I wanted to marry her."

That caused the ogre to pause for a moment, his smile going away as he processed what Cyclonus had said. He had... chosen Tailgate as tribute. And then when her father asked why, Cyclonus told him it was because he wanted to marry her... And her father had asked because he didn't know. Because he never would have suspected that Cyclonus was even interested in Tailgate.

As for Tailgate... Bombrush looked back at her. She was still very quiet, holding herself and avoiding his eyes. In fact, she was looking at the ground and looked very eager to bolt out of the room. She didn't rush to her fiancee, she didn't even look like she wanted to be anywhere near either of them... His shoulders slumped as he put two and two together. It took everything in his power not to groan, but he did lean back into his chair, almost as if he were exhausted.

And he was. He already had to deal with this with Megatron, and now Cyclonus? Did the demon learn nothing from what happened with their king? He just prayed to the gods that he would actually explain to Tailgate everything he was thinking. They didn't need another disaster like before.

"So... this was a surprise to you too?" he asked, looking to Tailgate.

She didn't reply.

"... I think I'll take my leave now." He stood up, turning to Cyclonus, who hadn't moved from his seat. "And we will see you back at the citadel in a few days."

Cyclonus nodded. "I'll see you out-"

"No, no, I'll see myself out. Well then..." Bombrush gave a polite bow to Tailgate, who bowed deeply once she realized he was looking at her. "Good day, Miss Tailgate. Cyclonus."

Neither of them moved as Bombrush left the room, closing the doors behind him. Tailgate suddenly felt much more nervous and uneasy now that she was alone with the demon, who was just staring at him from his seat. Did he want her to say something? Had she said the wrong thing? Bombrush looked rather... exasperated when he left. Maybe it was something she did and now Cyclonus was mad about it?

"Tailgate."

She stiffened, looking up to Cyclonus.

He stretched out a hand, gesturing her to come to him. Not sure if she really had a choice or not, she slowly made her way over to him. When she was close enough, he grabbed her arm. Tailgate nearly shrieked when he pulled her into his lap, having her sit on his leg and against his chest. She didn’t know what to do when his arm came around her, keeping her to him with his hand firmly holding her arm.

Primus, now what was she supposed to do?! He wasn’t doing anything other than holding her, which was a little weird. But it wasn’t like she could reciprocate the hug. Their relationship as of now made zero sense! She was his fiancée before he even proposed, even though he didn’t actually propose since he just sort of said he was going to marry her to her father rather than her! None of this was adding up and she was too afraid to ask for some sort of clarification.

She let out a nervous whine when his lips nuzzled her neck. On instinct, her hands came up to grab his shoulders, not sure what else to do. But that didn’t deter him, still nuzzling her affectionately with his embrace tightening.

“You don’t need to be afraid, Tailgate.”

Her eyes widened. Cyclonus pulled back to look at her, his face still as stoic as ever. He could see the fear in her eyes, so he reached up to stroke her cheek. She flinched a bit, but didn’t say anything.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” He moved a strand of hair from her face. “I only wish to make you my wife.”

“Wh-Why?”

He paused for a few moments before planting a soft kiss to her forehead. “I’m drawn to you. I have been for a long time… When I see you, I desire you. Thinking about you calms me. I want you by my side always. I was determined to make you my wife, even if it meant my proposal wasn’t romantic.”

A huge blush covered her face. Though she wasn’t sure if her racing heart was due to something other than complete shock with a mix of anxiety. He didn’t say it, but… Cyclonus loved her? Loved her to the point where he wanted to marry her so badly that… he used the Tribute Festival as a way to have ensure he would have her and she couldn’t really say no.

If they had actually been seeing her each other prior to this, maybe she would have been happy… Or at least happier about all of this. But now she was just confused and uneasy and not sure how much of a choice she had in this.

“W-We’re getting married?”

“Yes.”

“… Wh-When?”

“When you’re ready.”

Another look of shock came over her, though her embarrassment came back when his lips pressed against her forehead. Cyclonus would have smirked, but he knew this was all confusing to the young woman. Unlike what his king had done and unlike what Bombrush was probably assuming, he was planning on explaining everything clearly. There wouldn’t be any misunderstandings like there had been with the Queen.

True, he probably was getting ahead of himself a bit, but he had been holding back for a long time now. Though he understood that demons had different way of showing affection with their mates compared to other species, his instincts could only be held back so much now that she was officially his. He at least had to have her close to him, just like she was now.

He gently took a hold of the side of her face, forcing her to look at him. “I knew you would not be ready to marry me right away,” he said. “I also knew you might not share the same feelings for me… But I refuse to allow someone else to have you.”

She bit her bottom lip. She wasn’t sure why he thought he would have to worry about that. Surely he understood that she wasn’t exactly a popular pick among the men in her village. She did have a lot of guy friends, but none of them wanted to court her or anything like that.

“As long as it takes…” His lips pressed against her forehead again. “I will wait until you’re ready to marry me. I won’t do anything you dislike. Your happiness and safety are my top priorities. Until you also desire me as I do you, I won’t do anything to you. I swear on my life.”

Tailgate didn’t know what to say. It seemed almost too good to be true… Though she had a feeling that there wasn’t any way to get out of marrying him. But at least she would have the chance to get to know him more. She had already had a crush on him. And even after everything that had completely confused her, she still had those childish, schoolgirl feelings.

She didn’t really have many options here, but it could be worse. At least she would not have to marry him right away. She could deal with just living with him… And maybe she could fall for him like he had her, she really had no idea. Whether she did or not though didn’t really matter. She was stuck here regardless.

So, taking a deep breath, she said softly, “O… Okay.”

She could have sworn a smile came to his face, but his lips were suddenly at her neck, nuzzling against it. Tailgate shivered, but didn’t reject the affections. Primus, she never would have guessed Cyclonus could be so… touchy like this. It just didn’t seem in his nature. Maybe it was a demon thing, she couldn’t have been sure…

And while she was still apprehensive about all of this, she had a feeling that she would have been all right. Cyclonus promised he wouldn’t her. He swore on his life… and he always been civil when they had been back home. It would take some time to adjust, but she would be all right. Maybe he would even let her write to her father and her friends once everything had settled.

When the time came, she would have to ask.


End file.
